CATALYST FOR INNOVATION

23 جمادى الأولى 2017

Manufacturing is in constant motion, affected by many external factors fluctuating over time. Everything is going faster, technology no longer has boundaries, and companies must keep up with the rapid pace of change to ensure their sustainability. Premier Tech Chronos (PTC) has been and continues to be a leader in innovation within the packaging industry, but for several years we asked ourselves: How can we improve in order to provide our clients with even better solutions?

GTO - GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OFFICE

In 2015, discussions at PTC began that centered on creating a team dedicated to offering clients equipment they had never seen before. The success of this group would be driven by the specialized technical knowledge, talent and innovations of the people working at PTC. A year later, the Global Technology Office was born. Leading it was Chief Technology Officer Éric Viel. His mandate? To guarantee clients the best solutions in bag packaging, with an equipment portfolio available worldwide. How? By combining expertise and ideas from our sites around the world, with the goal of making PTC’s problem-solving even more innovative and effective. “We aim to manage the global product portfolio in a way that helps manufacturers maximize their ROI on product-related assets,” Viel says.

MARKET GLOBALIZATION

Why are we investing in this structure? Market globalization: Companies are becoming more global than ever. A few years ago, each plant managed its own purchasing without having to deal with higher management. Now, however, companies are getting bigger, with wider product portfolios. This drives the need for uniform equipment in all of a company’s manufacturing sites.

Automation is another driving force in industry. Now considered to be a worldwide trend, the current shortage of hands-on workers will only grow bigger in the years to come. Manufacturers that currently have difficulty finding the right resources to handle machinery directly will need to find a creative solution by investing in equipment automation if they want to continue their growth. With the baby boomer generation retiring in North America and Europe, and the complicated management of human resources in Asia, the urgent need to automate is knocking at almost everyone’s door.

“We have the talent, we have the technologies, now we need to create moments to put all of these talents and ideas together to create an even more powerful initiative to meet worldwide needs,” says Viel. For him, there are two important ingredients for innovation: Ambition and good ideas. As Éric sees it, it takes talent, plus a catalyst to create opportunities, to trigger innovation.

For Premier Tech Chronos, it’s not simply a question of growing, but of accelerating growth exponentially. Manufacturing and change are now so rapid that a manufacturer’s needs deserve a similarly rapid response. We’re now focusing our portfolio on globalization rather than solely on designing new equipment. We will make our technologies available everywhere, to anyone. The role of PTC’s Global Technology Office—GTO—is to take all of PTC’s winning elements, put them together, and make them available for our customers.

BENEFITS FOR CLIENTS

Having a global portfolio will help us ship our solutions to clients more quickly, as well as offering them worldwide expertise and the highest level of client service support. We realize that companies want the best solutions available globally, but with local installation and local support. That’s what we’re aiming to provide: Worldwide expertise supported by a worldwide portfolio.

PTW-Series | Open-Mouth Bagger

THE NEXT 5 YEARS

“We have huge ambitions,” says Viel. The main goal for PTC will be to have a complete worldwide portfolio, updated in real time and supported efficiently, that everyone will be able to consult. Five years from now, the GTO will be at the core of innovative initiatives, with a team that raises the bar higher than ever before. The most talented people will become leading players in increasing the overall performance of our team. In five years, we will be able to measure the impact of this initiative and claim proudly that our product portfolio is available anywhere in the world, managed globally.

WHO IS ÉRIC VIEL?

“If I had to describe who I am, I would consider myself as somebody passionate about building teams. As a soccer coach for many years, there’s a clear similarity between coaching a sports team and leading a professional team in a work context. It all comes down to leveraging the team by using your best player at the right place at the right time, with the right game plan to let the magic happen. With this group, I want to create those moments and generate discussions with multiple players, each one having their own strengths and talents.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR PTC?

In 2017, we’ll raise the bar even higher with new, state of-the-art technologies that will help our customers get rid of their everyday pain and achieve higher efficiency in their plants. We don’t want to spoil the surprise we have in store for you, but here are some initiatives you can look forward to in 2017:

We’ll launch a new bagging technology for the insulation market.

We’ll debut a new packaging system that will revolutionize the flour market.

We’ll release two new bagging technologies for emerging markets, specifically designed for hard-to-handle bags.

We’ll launch a new palletizing solution, allowing our clients to use their system in dual mode (pal and depal).

On top of that, 2017 will be the starting point for PTC as we innovate within a brand-new area, with a complete range of IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) solutions to be integrated into new and existing packaging lines.